Volleyball masterclasses inspire kids and coaches in Dublin

There have been a couple of very exciting days for Volleyball Ireland and especially for local young players and coaches in Dublin. On Thursday, Kristof De Loose, who has a wealth of experience working with youngsters back home in his native Belgium, delivered a Volleyball masterclass at Sutton Park in Dublin with players aged 12-13. This action represents the next step in the implementation of the CEV Schools Project by Volleyball Ireland, which has already helped involve hundreds of kids and inspired them to play the game at their school as well as at local clubs.

Kristof De Loose was one of the lecturers at this year’s historic CEV Coaches Convention held in Kranjska Gora, Slovenia, which representatives of Volleyball Ireland attended as well in order to learn from some of the top coaches in Europe to find further sources of inspiration for their work at the grassroots level.

On Thursday afternoon, De Loose and CEV Education and Referee Coordinator François Watthez attended the 2019 edition of the Senior Schools Cup Finals (boys and girls) held at University College Dublin (UCD). Later in the evening, De Loose delivered a second masterclass, this time lasting for some two hours and addressed to 20 club coaches, which included both a theoretical and a practical session.

Grainne Culliton, President of Volleyball Ireland, was obviously delighted with the outcome: “I loved the way the drills gradually built slowly but yet were carried out with pace. It is one of the hardest things to keep children engaged in a 1-to-2 hour session, but Kristof’s approach to coaching is a great way to do this. Fitness and health for children is very high in priorities nowadays, so if we can make sure children have a whole lot of fun when training, they will want to return again and again.”

Volleyball Ireland Development Officer Conor Flood: “I have been fortunate enough to see Kristof in action twice now. Tonight’s masterclass differed from the last session I took part in earlier this year; however, he still stuck to his three core values of Fun, Movement and Learning. By the end of the 1-hour practical session, I was exhausted, smiling and full of new exciting ideas to take back to my own club. This kind of approach to learning takes just a little creativity from any coach and will undoubtedly reap rewards for kids enjoying Volleyball.”